► Many countries such as Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK), Spain, United States of America (USA) and South Africa (SA) among others have experienced an…
(more)

▼ Many countries such as Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK), Spain,
United States of America (USA) and South Africa (SA) among others have experienced
an increase in housing prices, since the late 1990s. In SA, the abrupt increase in
residential property prices, particularly during the period 1999 to 2007, resulted in an
improvement in the level of households’ net wealth position. Empirical investigations,
mainly from developed countries, provide evidence indicating that a house price increase
has a significant impact on the households’ wealth, and thus house price gains increase
housing collateral for homeowners which make it possible for them to take out equity in
the form of refinancing or selling of the house to finance consumption.
With the above in mind, this study investigates the relationship between aggregate
expenditure on consumption by households and residential house prices in South Africa.
Following the permanent-income/lifecycle hypothesis (PI-LCH), this study applies the
vector error model (VECM) into the 1980:Q1 to 2007:Q4 quarterly data sample. The
overall finding of the study indicates there is indeed a long-run positive relationship
between housing prices and consumption in South Africa.
Advisors/Committee Members: Mahomedy, A. C (advisor).

► Armed conflict in Ituri since 1996 to the present day has resulted in the widespread and severe violation of human rights that include massive killings,…
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▼ Armed conflict in Ituri since 1996 to the present day has resulted in the widespread and
severe violation of human rights that include massive killings, rape, torture, mutilation
and property destruction that has infringed peace and security in the province. Many
studies on Ituri armed conflict point out land, minerals and identity as underlying causes
of this social breakdown that lead to continued insecurity in Ituri. While acknowledging
that there are many things that threaten the lives of individuals in times of war, this study
focuses exclusively on the perceptions of the people from Ituri about the meaning and
threats to peace and security as well as building human security in the province.
To investigate these perceptions, I use the concept of human security which is a new way
of thinking about peace and security. Although, this concept has a broad meaning, I
mostly focus on its components that promote the protection of civilians against severe
and widespread threats and as a people-centred approach, it advocates for the
responsibility to protect civilians by their governments and the international community
while the latter is given the full mandate by the UN, through its Security Council to
intervene in countries whereby, governments are the perpetrators of violence on its own
civilians or whereby governments are unable to contain violence perpetrated by warring
fractions on innocent civilians and causing the displacement of millions from their home.
I used a qualitative approach that sought to obtain as many as possible the views of
participants which in turn were described thoroughfully so as to obtain patterns and
themes that explain exactly what participants think is the meaning of peace and security
and what could be the possible threats that make them feel insecure. To reach my goal, I
used participant observation, focus group and semi-structured interview methods. 105
participants were selected randomly to participate in the research, that is, 94 in focus
groups and 11 in semi-structured interviews. An additional 31 participants were also
interviewed in Johannesburg to validate the data collected previously. Content analysis
was used to analyse data.
The study finds that there are various meanings to security and that threats to peace and
security depend on the kind of meanings that people from Ituri perceive to be the
meaning of security. The meaning of security depends on the context in which people
live. Both victims and perpetrators ‘should’ work towards the achievement of peace and
security. From the findings, it was concluded that the international community should not
play both arsonist and fireman roles, rather engaging honestly and sincerely in building
peace and security in the province of Ituri. This may lead to sustainable peace and
security in the province.
Advisors/Committee Members: Harris, Geoff (advisor).

► Sub-Saharan Africa is marginalised in the world economy and lags behind other developing regions in world trade. This is attributable to sub-Saharan Africa's inability to…
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▼ Sub-Saharan Africa is marginalised in the world economy and lags behind other developing regions in world trade. This is attributable to sub-Saharan Africa's inability to industrialise and diversify its exports base. Sub-Saharan Africa is still largely dependent on the exports of primary commodities, and agriculture is a vital export sector for many Sub-Saharan African economies with the majority of their exports reliant on traditional commodities. Most countries in the sub-Saharan African region have low levels of agricultural output and food security problems. Against this background, this study first discusses the problems associated with primary commodity dependence and then examines the need and economic rationale for sub-Saharan Africa to diversify its exports from agriculture into other sectors. From this, it follows that, diversifying agricultural production and exports into organic produce could be one way to create a more sustainable development path for sub-Saharan African trade and food security. With this in mind, this study discusses the economic viability, including the policy considerations, for organic product diversification in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, to ascertain the empirical position of this study, a statistical assessment of the supply-side food security situation in three sub-Saharan African major organic converters and exporters (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) is presented. The empirical results indicate that among the three countries, considering data trends and variances, Uganda's food security outlook is the most optimistic.
Advisors/Committee Members: Tang, Vanessa (advisor).

Koch, P. K. (2011). Primary commodity dependence and agricultural diversification : the role of organic agriculture in trade and the implications for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. (Masters Thesis). University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7913

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Koch, Pamela Kathleen. “Primary commodity dependence and agricultural diversification : the role of organic agriculture in trade and the implications for food security in sub-Saharan Africa.” 2011. Masters Thesis, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Accessed February 22, 2019.
http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7913.

Koch PK. Primary commodity dependence and agricultural diversification : the role of organic agriculture in trade and the implications for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. [Internet] [Masters thesis]. University of KwaZulu-Natal; 2011. [cited 2019 Feb 22].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7913.

Council of Science Editors:

Koch PK. Primary commodity dependence and agricultural diversification : the role of organic agriculture in trade and the implications for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. [Masters Thesis]. University of KwaZulu-Natal; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7913

University of KwaZulu-Natal

4.
Ross, Sean.Expansion options for the Port of Durban : an examination of environmental and economic efficiency costs and benefits.

► The port of Durban is currently suffering under severe capacity constraints. This has negatively affected efficiency resulting in queuing and berthing delays. If Durban wishes…
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▼ The port of Durban is currently suffering under severe capacity constraints. This has negatively
affected efficiency resulting in queuing and berthing delays. If Durban wishes to remain the premier
hub status port of the region and Southern hemisphere, then it needs to adequately address the current
supply constraints. Shipping vessel operators and owners will not tolerate these inefficiencies
indefinitely and if the port does not seek to address the situation, it runs the very real risk of losing
patronage in the medium to long term.
The obvious response to the supply side constraint is to increase container handling capacity. This
dissertation will analyse the expansion options available to the port in this regard. Beside simply
increasing capacity, the port needs to increase draught depth at the berths since container vessels are
continually migrating to larger sizes to benefit from economies of scale. A key challenge is the fact
that the port serves other purposes beyond that of being a gateway for traded goods such as ecological
functions and subsistence fishing. This is compounded by the significant environment degradation
which the bay has suffered over the last century or so. The port, however, generates significant
economic benefits for the city in terms of economic linkages and employment, and for its wider
national and regional hinterland, by holding down the generalised cost of the transport of goods. By
not expanding capacity, there are significant opportunity costs for Durban and for the port’s wider
hinterland. The best way of analysing the benefits and costs of the various options is to conduct a
public CBA analysis which monetises and discounts streams of benefits and costs to arrive at a NPV.
Several expansion options are examined and include Bayhead, the old DIA site and Richards Bay. An
NPV was calculated for each option where environmental externalities were included. The CBA
yielded three options with positive NPV’s out of the seven examined. The Southern Access routes,
3CA and 3DA, were both rejected since the effective removal of port sites used presently for the
handling and storage of petrochemicals was considered infeasible. One of the Northern Access routes,
1AB, was also rejected since the option yielded a negative NPV. Even though DIA1 had a positive
NPV; it was rejected based on mutual exclusivity with option DIA2. Richards Bay was rejected since
it had a penalty cost of R89 billion over Durban, due primarily to higher logistical costs. On balance
the Bayhead option 1AA and airport option DIA2 were chosen as the projects of choice primarily on
the basis of the CBA results. Both these options yielded significantly positive NPV’s and the port
should seriously look into their construction as they would provide several years of spare capacity as
well as being able to accommodate Post Panamax vessels.
Advisors/Committee Members: Jones, Trevor (advisor).

Ross, S. (2010). Expansion options for the Port of Durban : an examination of environmental and economic efficiency costs and benefits. (Masters Thesis). University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7950

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Ross, Sean. “Expansion options for the Port of Durban : an examination of environmental and economic efficiency costs and benefits.” 2010. Masters Thesis, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Accessed February 22, 2019.
http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7950.

Ross S. Expansion options for the Port of Durban : an examination of environmental and economic efficiency costs and benefits. [Masters Thesis]. University of KwaZulu-Natal; 2010. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/7950

University of KwaZulu-Natal

5.
Zhang, Fan.Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective.

► Since China's introduction of economic reform and adoption of market-oriented programs, more and more people are going into business. China registered an average annual GDP…
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▼ Since China's introduction of economic reform and adoption of market-oriented programs, more and more people are going into business. China registered an average annual GDP growth of over 8% in the past ten years. Moreover, during the past ten years (1995-2005), the number of women-owned businesses in China has increased significantly, and these businesses are just as successful as those owned by men. With an increasing number of them participating, women have become a major force in China's economic development, even in Shaanxi. The need for a better understanding of this emerging economy and of women entrepreneurs in small firm motivated the researcher to undertake this study. Moreover, this study was guided by the following research objectives: Primary objectives • Determine the motivations underpinning entry of women into small business in Shaanxi • Examine the barriers and challenges that female entrepreneurs face and how can these be addressed • Examine the contribution of female entrepreneurs to the regional development of the province with regard to employment • Consider the determinants of the employment growth of women-owned business as in Shaanxi • Examine the determinants of the performance of female entrepreneurs in Shaanxi • Make suggestions regarding further research on entrepreneurship development in Shaanxi province, China • Examine whether source of funding is associated with the education of the entrepreneurs. Secondary objectives • Examine whether perceptions of support for women entrepreneurs vary with marital status and education. • Examine whether perceptions of support for women entrepreneurs vary with training and networks. • Examine whether belonging to a business network is related to the marital status and education of the women entrepreneurs. According to surveyed entrepreneurs, the quest for personal development (pull) and a feeling of not "fit in" with the organisation (push) are two main factors which motivated women to go into business as self-employed persons. The main barriers to them start-up in business are availability of funds and family support. Problems still exist, but women entrepreneurs made a great contribution to Shaanxi's provincial economic development, especially in terms of employment creation opportunities. The regression analysis shows that education and experience of the entrepreneurs contribute significantly to employment growth. Moreover, efficient business networks, availability of funding with training opportunities and the support from government are seemingly rather weak in Shaanxi, China. Results of the hypotheses tests indicate that training, networks, business location, family member employees and prior working experience of the women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to better performance in business.
Advisors/Committee Members: Mahadea, Darma (advisor).

Zhang, F. (2008). Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective. (Masters Thesis). University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10413/139

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Zhang, Fan. “Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective.” 2008. Masters Thesis, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Accessed February 22, 2019.
http://hdl.handle.net/10413/139.

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Zhang, Fan. “Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective.” 2008. Web. 22 Feb 2019.

Vancouver:

Zhang F. Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective. [Internet] [Masters thesis]. University of KwaZulu-Natal; 2008. [cited 2019 Feb 22].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/139.

Council of Science Editors:

Zhang F. Women in business in the Province of Shaanxi, China : an entrepreneurial perspective. [Masters Thesis]. University of KwaZulu-Natal; 2008. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/139

► In recent decades, China has started to exhibit some of the children’s weight problems commonly seen in more developed countries. This study addresses Chinese…
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▼ In recent decades, China has started to exhibit some of the children’s weight problems commonly seen in more developed countries. This study addresses Chinese children’s weight changes from two perspectives, using China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data from 1991-2011. The first essay focuses on the impact of socio-economics status (SES) on children’s weight changes and how the SES-weight gradient differs with age, gender and urban status. I find that the child’s weight is positively correlated to SES, but the impact of SES diminishes with age. The rise of childhood obesity, especially in urban areas and among high SES families, might be attributed to globalization beginning in the 2000s, which modifies the culture of calorie intake and energy expenditure. The second essay examines the intergenerational transmission of weight from parents to children. I find that low SES families have a stronger intergenerational persistence of weight, which suggests their inability to alter children’s weight through nurturing. I also find that parents’ weights are an important predictor of children’s weight after controlling for demographics, SES and living environment. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis suggests that more than half of the difference in children’s BMI ranking between urban and rural areas is attributable to the different urban-rural endowments.

► This dissertation consists of three essays that examine congressional politics. In the first essay, I explore the implications of using models of direct democracy to…
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▼ This dissertation consists of three essays that examine congressional politics. In the first essay, I explore the implications of using models of direct democracy to examine questions of political economy in countries with represenative democracy systems. I find that there are two main factors that cause the policy outcomes of a representative democracy system to deviate from direct democracy outcomes: the distribution of preferences across the general population of voters, and second is the degree to which legislative districts are ``gerrymandered". In the second essay, I examine the implications of the party cartel model of congressional policy making cite{Cox2005} on the level of redistributional social welfare spending in the United States. I find that for each $1,000 increase in median district income for the median member of the majority party, each redistributional Budget Authority sub-function decreases by an average of resultMean (for a total decrease of resultSum overall). In the third essay, I examine the implications of making existing single period game theoretic models of Congress dynamic. When the existing models are made dynamic and status quos are allowed to be inherited across time periods, different equilibrium predictions are made for each of the models, than those commonly attributed to them. The party cartel model begins to predict median outcomes and the pivotal politics model predicts outcomes that are significantly different from the location of the median member of the chamber. Overall, these three essays describe flaws in the current models of congressional policy-making and income redistribution and point toward possible solutions as well.
Advisors/Committee Members: David Mustard.

► This dissertation consists of two chapters on the relation between financial development, income inequality and poverty. The first chapter examines the relationship between financial…
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▼ This dissertation consists of two chapters on the relation between financial development, income inequality and poverty. The first chapter examines the relationship between financial deepening and income inequality for 16 countries based on a time series approach. Unlike previous work that focuses on testing the credit channel (private credit and bank asset) through which finance improves inequality, this chapter also investigates the deposit channel (liquid liabilities and bank deposit). The results suggest that the finance-inequality relationships behave differently across countries. Five countries support the reducing-inequality function through the credit channel, whereas three countries are found to support the deposit channel. In India, Japan, Bolivia, Malta and the United States, financial deepening is actually harming the income distribution. By implementing instrumental variable regressions on a sample of 144 countries from 1961 to 2011, the second chapter extends the examination from financial deepening to multiple dimensions of financial development – financial access, efficiency, stability and openness. Evidence shows that, except for financial openness, the development of the financial system can significantly improve the income inequality and poverty in an economy.
Advisors/Committee Members: Mohsen Bahmani-Oskoee.

Zhang, R. (2014). Two Essays on the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Retrieved from https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/785

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Zhang, Ruixin. “Two Essays on the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution.” 2014. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Accessed February 22, 2019.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/785.

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Zhang, Ruixin. “Two Essays on the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution.” 2014. Web. 22 Feb 2019.

Vancouver:

Zhang R. Two Essays on the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; 2014. [cited 2019 Feb 22].
Available from: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/785.

Council of Science Editors:

Zhang R. Two Essays on the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; 2014. Available from: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/785

► This dissertation studies dynamic models in the context of international economics and the U.S. economy. First, the focus is on the effect of commodity shocks…
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▼ This dissertation studies dynamic models in the context of international economics and the U.S. economy. First, the focus is on the effect of commodity shocks in an small open economy in a dynamic trade model. Then, this dissertation studies the effects of monetary policy in a dynamic trade model. Finally, dynamics between government debt and bubbles are studied considering an overlapping generation model.The first chapter, "Dutch Disease in a Dynamic International Trade Model of an Small Open Economy", models a dynamic small open economy which produces and trades final goods and a commodity. The commodity is modeled as an homogeneous good and it is demanded by the rest of the world. The dynamic system developed in this chapter relies on key parameters that characterize the small open economy. These parameters are the elasticity of substitution across final goods and the shape parameter of the Pareto distribution of productivities. In order to compute the steady-state of the economy and study the dynamics implied by the model, we estimate both the elasticity of substitution and the shape parameter of the Pareto distribution considering data for the Chilean economy, which satisfies the small open economy assumption as well as the commodity production.The second chapter, "Monetary policy in a dynamic trade model with heterogeneous firms", studies the effect of monetary policy on a dynamic model of trade with heterogeneous firms. We study the dynamic implications of monetary policies that act during "normal times" and monetary policies that leave the economy at the zero lower bound. In order to do so, we craft a model which incorporates nominal rigidities. This feature generates a friction such that nominal shocks affect real allocations in the economy. To build the model, we combine nominal frictions with firm heterogeneity as in Melitz (2003) in a dynamic setting as in Ghironi and Melitz (2005).The final chapter, "A Note on Government Debt and Bubbles", studies the interactions between government debt and bubbles in an economy. We consider a general equilibrium approach in a productive economy and we explore conditions under which government debt path in our model is consistent with the government debt path observed in the last twenty years. During that period, government debt, as share of GDP, has interacted with bubbles in a countercyclical pattern. That is, in the absence of bubbles there is an increase in the evolution of debt-to-GDP ratio, and when a bubble is traded, debt-to-GDP ratio is decreasing.

▼ My dissertation contributes towards our understanding of effects of trade liberalization on institutional, economic and environmental outcomes. It consists of three chapters. The first, ``International Trade Liberalization and Domestic Institutional Reform: Effects of WTO Accession on Chinese Internal Migration Policy" studies the effect of trade liberalization on migration regulations. I study how trade affects labor institutions in the context of China?s Hukou system that regulates internal migration. Chinese local governments were allowed to relax internal migration restrictions after China entered the WTO in 2001. I collect a new dataset on Chinese prefecture-level migration regulations that shows each region?s friendliness to migrant workers. Using these data, I document an increase in pro-migrant regulation around the time of WTO entry. I then consider the role of international trade in triggering this increase by estimating the impact of prefecture-level export and import shocks on migration regulations across 250 Chinese prefectures from 2001 to 2007. I find a positive and significant impact of export shocks on regulations that encourage in-migration. 17% of the impact of export shocks on migration and 9%-15% of their impact on growth operated through changes in regulation. In my second chapter, ``Was Entry into the WTO Worth it: Environmental Consequences of Trade Liberalization'', I document that despite the enormous economic benefits from China's accession to the WTO in 2001, the overall welfare gains from trade liberalization may be compromised since pollution from production has also increased. Using plausibly exogenous tariff reductions on Chinese goods caused by the WTO accession, variation in industry composition across cities and variation in pollution intensity levels across industries, I study the effect of trade liberalization on income, pollution, and health in China from 2000 to 2005. Using regional tariff shocks as instruments for changes in income and pollution levels, I show that cities which faced a 10% larger GDP per capita increase experienced a 6%-7% larger total mortality rate decline, and regions that faced a 10% larger increase in air pollution levels experienced a 4%-13% larger total mortality rate increase. Overall, if all exports were generated from non-polluting industries, the total mortality rate would have declined by 3.6% more. However, in terms of overall welfare, the gains from income growth outweigh losses from increases in pollution levels. In the third and last chapter, ``Hukou and Labor Misallocation in China", I propose to quantify the changes in misallocation cost due to the Hukou reform. The Hukou system impedes labor mobility across regions, and the marginal productivity of labor may not be equalized spatially. Following Hsieh and Moretti (2017), I plan to use a general equilibrium Rosen-Roback model to measure the effect of Hukou regulations on aggregate growth.

▼ My dissertation contributes towards our understanding of effects that convict labor has on economic outcomes. It consists of three chapters. The first, ``Economic Consequences of the U.S. Convict Labor System'' studies the economic externalities of U.S. convict labor on local labor markets. Using newly collected panel data on U.S. prisons and convict-labor camps from 1886 to 1940, I show that competition from cheap prison-made goods led to higher unemployment, lower labor-force participation, and reduced wages (particularly for women) in counties that housed competing manufacturing industries. At the same time, affected industries had higher patenting rates. I find that the introduction of convict labor accounts for 16% slower growth in U.S. manufacturing wages. The introduction of convict labor also induced technical changes and innovations that account for 6% of growth in U.S. patenting in affected industries. In my second chapter, ``U.S. Convict Labor System and Racial Discrimination'' I document that after the demise of the slavery and rise of crime after the end of the Civil War, convict labor system evolved in the United States in order to finance state penitentiary institutions. It provided monetary incentives to the police to arrest more people. Black and other minorities became an easy target for a police that used a variety of minor crime laws to increase the supply of coerced labor. Using the geographical variation of convict labor camps in the United States in 1886 I show that counties exposed to a more severe exploitation of convict labor experienced higher rates of incarceration among minorities in 1920, and 1930. Moreover, after the abolishment of the old convict labor system in 1941, the racial discrimination in policing remained: the same variation of convict labor camps predicts excessive arrests of Black and Hispanic for non-violent crimes (drugs and vagrancy). To show that the results are causal I use the exogenous shock of first massive expansion of the U.S. convict labor system in 1870 that had happened when the National Prison Association was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. I use distance to Cincinnati as an instrument for the value of goods produced by convict labor. It correlates with the likelihood of attending the Congress by the wardens of prisons, and cost of getting information about the profitability of convict labor. I perform a series of sensitivity checks and placebo tests to ensure that results are indeed causal.In the third and last chapter, using historical distribution of the prison and convict labor camps in the United States, I study the long-run effect of convict labor on equality of opportunities. Convict labor negatively affected wages of low-skilled workers and had positive effects on firms in affected industries. I document that this reallocation of welfare from wage earners to capital owners had a long-lasting effect on equality of opportunities: intergenerational mobility of the bottom income quintile got worse, while it improved for the other quintiles.

► Chapter I: The Impact of Occupation on HealthParticipation in meaningful occupations contributes to good health and well-being. Workers are more likely to derive satisfaction from…
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▼ Chapter I: The Impact of Occupation on HealthParticipation in meaningful occupations contributes to good health and well-being. Workers are more likely to derive satisfaction from participating in occupations well-suited to their skills and training. This project provides causal evidence of the impact of occupation on health among college graduates. In particular, I estimate the health effect of participation in occupations well-suited to their education level, that is, occupations that value college education. Valuation of college education in an occupation is measured by occupation-specific college earning premium: the adjusted percentage difference in earnings between workers with and without college degrees in this given occupation. The causal inference relies on estimation with instrumental variables, which are constructed in the spirit of Hausman’s price instrumental variables. The result suggests that college educated individuals participating in occupations with higher college earning premiums have better self-reported health, even after accounting for income, occupational prestige, and within-occupation hierarchy. This is the first paper to establish the causal impact of occupation on health. I also show that this causal impact remains significant across various specifications.Chapter II: The Power of PropagandaSince the 1950s, China’s central government’s gender equality propaganda is widely accepted as the explanation for China’s high female labor force participation rate. In an effort to provide empirical evidence for this viewpoint, this project shows that early exposure to propaganda promoting gender equality affects individuals’ attitudes towards women in the workforce. We gauge variation in the political climate between 1952 and 2008 by using the official newspaper of the central government, People's Daily, which has been under the direct control of the Chinese Communist Party's top leadership. For causal inference, we exploit provincial variation in propaganda intensities, proxied by provincial level radio and television signal coverage. In addition, we use the timing of exogenous events to generate an instrumental variable for intensity peaks of the gender-equality propaganda. First, we exploit the exogenous timing of a series of national and international Women’s Conference as one set of instrumental variables. Second, we utilize the timing of Jiang Qing’s (Mao’s wife) coming into prominence and her sudden removal by a political coup towards the end of the Cultural Revolution. We find that women with more intense exposure to propaganda promoting gender equality before age 26, and men with more intense exposure before age 18 tend to endorse women’s participation in the workforce. The effect of propaganda is more pronounced on women than men. It is worth noting that while propaganda encourages women’s participation in the workforce, it does not emphasize men’s responsibility in the household. We indeed find evidence of the “superwoman complex”: women are expected to strive for a career and do the…

► There is an urgent need for upper secondary-level and above educated people in Indonesia. According to a recent report, Indonesian companies cannot fill 50%…
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▼ There is an urgent need for upper secondary-level and above educated people in Indonesia. According to a recent report, Indonesian companies cannot fill 50% of their entry level positions. To increase the educational attainment, government has been implementing various polices, such as school construction program, compulsory education and allocating 20% of its budget to education, but inadequate enrollment at upper secondary and tertiary levels and the quality of education still remain as big problems. To shed a light on these urgent and recent problems, I ask four questions: a) What is the effect of school quality on tertiary attainment? b) Which school level does the quality matter more? c) Which factors prevent high ability individuals to get tertiary attainment? d) How important is parental background for educational attainment at each stage of the educational path? Previous work focused on school quality’s effect on lower secondary education, and a lack of upper secondary-level and above educated people is an issue only brought up recently and analyzed in this paper. I show that primary school quality has a direct effect on tertiary attainment besides its indirect effect due to the accumulation of school quality at each level. To generate my dataset, I use four waves of Indonesia Family Life Survey. My model accounts for unobserved heterogeneity to handle self selection issues in education. This is one of the few studies in a developing country modeling long term educational decisions. I analyze the role of family background, location, personal characteristics, number of schools used in each community, primary school quality, as well as student’s ability and motivation for transitions to lower secondary, upper secondary, and tertiary education in Indonesia. With a focus on tertiary educational attainment, I show that long term factors and early fundamental education play a big role. These findings further support the importance of promoting cognitive ability and high quality education early in life; especially for those who are coming from more disadvantaged environments.

Sumengen, E. D. G. (2016). Education Dynamics in a Developing Country| Evidence from Indonesia. (Thesis). State University of New York at Stony Brook. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10145874

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Sumengen, Elif Deniz Gulenc. “Education Dynamics in a Developing Country| Evidence from Indonesia.” 2016. Thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Accessed February 22, 2019.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10145874.

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Sumengen EDG. Education Dynamics in a Developing Country| Evidence from Indonesia. [Internet] [Thesis]. State University of New York at Stony Brook; 2016. [cited 2019 Feb 22].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10145874.

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Council of Science Editors:

Sumengen EDG. Education Dynamics in a Developing Country| Evidence from Indonesia. [Thesis]. State University of New York at Stony Brook; 2016. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10145874

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

This dissertation makes a contribution to the question of how best to set the rate of unemployment compensation. Previous research on this topic has…
(more)

▼

Economics

This dissertation makes a contribution to the question of how best to set the rate of unemployment compensation. Previous research on this topic has emphasized the behavioral response of non-workers to various incentives created by unemployment insurance. Recent work has emphasized two new features. One is the importance of including savings in the model, and the other the recognition that skills tend to rise during employment and fall during unemployment spells. This thesis seeks to combine all three features, search incentives, savings, and skill change effects. The strategy is to develop an unemployment model with these features and to obtain parameters values from a variety of sources, including SIPP data and research by other authors on related questions. The model is then simulated for various ranges of policy choices. The primary policy choice is the benefit replacement ratio, a number that determines the actual level of unemployment compensation. Taxes are set under different assumptions. In some cases, taxes are set to achieve budget balance. In other cases, taxes are set independently of benefit levels. This feature assumes the possibility of a subsidy from other sources, but it allows for a study of the independent incentive effects of benefits and tax rates. Results from the simulations using the most likely parameter specification indicate that a replacement ratio of 58% is best. A replacement ratio slightly higher than the optimal ratio can lead to a large decrease in average utility, and is problematic. When human capital changes are relatively less responsive to unemployment and employment duration, longer unemployment spells are more desirable as they lead to better matches. When the effect of taxes and benefits are looked at separately, the benefit ratio aspects matters more than the tax rate.

This dissertation examines the interaction between amenities, earnings, and city prices. The first essay uses three different methodologies to investigate whether, given a fixed…
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Economics

This dissertation examines the interaction between amenities, earnings, and city prices. The first essay uses three different methodologies to investigate whether, given a fixed level of amenities, workers are fully compensated, in terms of higher wages, for higher price levels across cities. In the first, I use the overall city price level and aftertax earnings as endogenous variables in a two-stage least squares (2SLS) system and find that owners and renters are not fully compensated for higher city price levels. In the second, I split city price levels into housing prices and non-housing goods prices and use housing prices and aftertax earnings as endogenous variables in a 2SLS system. Using this method, I find that highly-educated homeowners and renters are fully compensated for higher housing prices while less-educated homeowners and renters are not fully compensated for higher housing prices. I also find that all homeowners and renters of all education levels are fully compensated for higher non-housing good prices. Finally, I assume that homeowners and renters are fully compensated for higher nonhousing goods prices and use housing prices and aftertax earnings as endogenous variables in a 2SLS system. Using this method, I again find that highly-educated homeowners and renters are fully compensated for higher housing prices while less-educated homeowners and renters are not fully compensated for higher housing prices. In addition, I determine implicit prices for 13 different amenities for both owners and renters with different education levels. While I am not the first to calculate these implicit prices, I am the first to differentiate these implicit prices among education levels and ownership status. In the second essay, I use the implicit price results from the first essay to create a city ranking. There are two main approaches in the city ranking literature. The implicit price of amenity approach uses implicit amenity prices as weights that are multiplied by the amount of each amenity in each city. The sum of the "market values" of a city's amenities can then be used to create a city ranking. The real wage approach involves finding the logarithmic difference in nominal wages across areas and subtracting this from the logarithmic difference in housing prices across areas, using either a rent-based or housing-value based index. The idea behind this approach is that, after typical housing characteristics and worker characteristics are accounted for, the differences in rents and wages must reflect differences in local amenities. I use similar methodologies to both of these approaches, but I improve upon what I view as shortcomings in both strands of the literature. First, I include the effect of educational attainment, income inequality, and job growth. Second, I look at how city rankings differ by level of education and by ownership status. Third, I add new components to the existing literature on firm rankings. All of these additions give a richer, more accurate view of how workers and…

This dissertation is a collection of three relatively independent essays on economic growth in Singapore. In the first chapter, I construct a low-frequency macroeconometric…
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Economics

This dissertation is a collection of three relatively independent essays on economic growth in Singapore. In the first chapter, I construct a low-frequency macroeconometric model to investigate the association between eight key macroeconomic variables, consisting of FDI net inflows, gross fixed capital formation, openness to trade, labor compensation, unit labor costs, domestic credit to private sector, real interest rate, and capital stock, and a variety of relevant macroeconomic variables in Singapore for the period 1980-2009. The model contains two submodels: a multivariate autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and an enhanced first-order autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) model. My results are broadly consistent with evidence from previous empirical studies, and have important policy implications for characterizing Singapore’s medium- and long-term growth path. The second chapter re-estimates the contributions of various inputs to Singapore’s output growth for the period 1980-2009. To address the impact of quality-adjusted human capital and time-varying factor shares on these contributions, I extend the translog production function approach developed by Jorgenson et al. (1987) by incorporating human-capital-adjusted labor and the assumption of time-varying shares of physical capital. The results show that a decline in capital deepening is partly offset by improvements in labor quality and procyclical productivity growth. They also imply that estimation of contributions of various inputs without considering quality-adjusted labor input is biased. In the third chapter, I measure the contemporaneous and one-period-lagged effects of the level of economic development, R&D spending, FDI net inflows, and infrastructure on innovation using a unique panel data set of 17 Group of Twenty (G20) countries and the European Union (EU) as a whole for the period 1996-2011. Additionally, I examine and compare the innovation trends in Singapore with the empirical results in different country groups of the G20 to explore the determinants of innovation in Singapore. This essay highlights the economic importance of R&D spending and infrastructure relative to that of FDI net inflows and the level of economic development addressed in traditional studies. It also implies that routinely pooling developed and developing countries can result in misleading conclusions and inappropriate policy recommendations. Besides relying on infrastructure to promote innovation, Singapore ought to apply R&D and technology spillovers to domestic enterprises more efficiently.

► This study focuses on both economic and noneconomic determinants of geographical migration out of rural areas in the United States. In line with existing…
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▼ This study focuses on both economic and noneconomic determinants of geographical migration out of rural areas in the United States. In line with existing studies on individual’s decision to migrate from rural to urban areas, our analysis compares expected returns in rural to those in urban areas. Using annual U.S. countylevel count data spanning the period from 2010 to 2014, Fixed Effect and Negative Binomial methods are used to evaluate the effects of both economic and noneconomic variables on geographical outmigration from rural to urban areas. Determining factors investigated include distance between place of origin and potential destination, median household income, educational attainment, the poverty rate, the unemployment rate, a natural amenity index, the prevalence of primary healthcare providers and social associations. Findings suggest that higher expected returns in urban compared to rural areas contribute to releasing people out of rural areas in the United States. A large distance between origin and destination associated with high migration costs demotivate rural people to migrate to urban areas. On the other side, relatively high median household incomes, low unemployment rates, high level of education, a high presence of natural amenities, high level of access to primary healthcare providers in urban destination areas encourage rural people to migrate to urban areas. The poverty rate and social associations did not significantly affect rural outmigration decisions in the United States during the period studied.
Advisors/Committee Members: Evert Van der Sluis.

► This thesis explores the trend of WIC (Women Infants and Children) and non WIC breastfeeding rates in U.S.A. WIC is a special supplemental nutrition…
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▼ This thesis explores the trend of WIC (Women Infants and Children) and non WIC breastfeeding rates in U.S.A. WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Time and panel data series have been used for 50 states of U.S.A and D.C (District of Columbia) to analyze the common trend between the two breastfeeding rates (time series data for 35 years and panel data series for 28 years). To determine the common trend, I used residual based cointegration for time series and recently developed error correction based cointegration for panel data series. I also constructed error correction models for both data series to evaluate the speed of adjustments between the two breastfeeding rates. The results suggest the prevalence of a common trend and moreover an upward trend for WIC and non WIC breastfeeding rates which indicates that both breastfeeding rates are growing together over time. The speed of adjustments toward equilibrium is faster in the time series data compared to the panel series data.
Advisors/Committee Members: David E. Davis.

Azim, N. (2017). Common Trend in WIC and Non WIC Breastfeeding Rate: A Cointegration Approach of Panel and Time Series Data. (Masters Thesis). South Dakota State University. Retrieved from http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1698

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Azim, Nazia. “Common Trend in WIC and Non WIC Breastfeeding Rate: A Cointegration Approach of Panel and Time Series Data.” 2017. Masters Thesis, South Dakota State University. Accessed February 22, 2019.
http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1698.

Azim N. Common Trend in WIC and Non WIC Breastfeeding Rate: A Cointegration Approach of Panel and Time Series Data. [Internet] [Masters thesis]. South Dakota State University; 2017. [cited 2019 Feb 22].
Available from: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1698.

Council of Science Editors:

Azim N. Common Trend in WIC and Non WIC Breastfeeding Rate: A Cointegration Approach of Panel and Time Series Data. [Masters Thesis]. South Dakota State University; 2017. Available from: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1698

► In this dissertation, I present three essays on labor share. The first chapter studies the effect of offshoring on the relative share of income…
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▼ In this dissertation, I present three essays on labor share. The first chapter studies the effect of offshoring on the relative share of income going to labor and capital. It introduces offshoring in a model of heterogeneous firms with two intermediate inputs. The intermediate inputs are produced with a CES technology using two factors of production: labor and capital. Given the direction of labor-saving technical change, offshoring decreases the relative demand for labor, which thereby decreases labor share. Empirical studies of the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) show that in manufacturing industries in developed countries, the share of imported intermediate inputs, especially those that originate in developing countries, negatively affects labor share. The second chapter studies the effect of trade liberalization on labor share. It introduces technology upgrading in a model of trade in which heterogeneous firms use two inputs: labor and capital. The model allows for non-neutral technology upgrading and it uses a CES production function. The joint treatment of technology upgrading and export choices shows that trade liberalization can induce efficient firms to upgrade their technology. Given the direction of labor-saving technology upgrading, trade liberalization increases the relative demand for capital and decreases labor share. This model also explains why exporting firms are more capital intensive. The third chapter studies the effect of ICT use on the labor share in South Korean firms employing Workplace Panel Survey (WPS). The results robustly show that increasing ICT use decreases labor share in both manufacturing firms and non-manufacturing firms. It also finds that the decreasing the bargaining position of labor negatively affects labor share.

► Research states that the private sector see rhinoceros becoming a liability; the private sector is thus moving away from rhino conservation. There is a need…
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▼ Research states that the private sector see rhinoceros becoming a liability; the private sector is thus moving away from rhino conservation. There is a need for a descriptive research to provide an answer to the question of whether rhinos as an investment are profitable or if they are a liability (Child, 2012; Ferreira, Pfab, & Knight, 2014). It is of importance for different stakeholders in rhino conservation to know if rhino conservation is a valid investment for a private game reserve in South Africa. Different income and cost factors have been researched and linked to a small rhino population. Cash flows are forecasted for five years. Scenarios of various discount rates are used to calculate the net present value (NPV) of the rhino project. The NPV, as expressed in Table 25 to Table 30 in paragraph 5.3, clearly show that the rhino is a lost investment. The rhino is a liability for any private game reserve in South Africa. Figure 2 and Figure 3 in paragraph 5.4.1. clearly shows the major impact the rhino horn trade can have on the NPV. This proves to be the missing income stream, if realised, justifying private game reserves conserving rhino. It transforms the rhino from a liability to a high-value asset, generating a profitable cash flow.
Advisors/Committee Members: Uliana, Enrico.

This dissertation contains three essays applying microeconometric methods to unique panel datasets to answer economically-motivated research questions at the individual or firm level. The…
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Economics

This dissertation contains three essays applying microeconometric methods to unique panel datasets to answer economically-motivated research questions at the individual or firm level. The first essay uses microeconometric methods to analyze firm-level data on patenting. The second and third essays use anonymized individual-level credit bureau data to investigate the effects of a national health care policy on financial well-being and borrowing behavior. The first chapter examines the effect of being the target of patent litigation on the efficiency of patenting-intense firms' knowledge production. To test the hypothesis, I construct a new, unique data set by linking firm-level patent, financial, and patent litigation data for any firm with more than 1000 lifetime U.S. patents from 2000-2010. Estimating a dynamic count data model via generalized method of moments (GMM), I find that a 1% increase in patent litigation leads to a small, but statistically significant 0.214% decrease in patent production for small firms relative to large firms. The second chapter analyzes if the passage of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) dependent coverage mandate in 2010 reduced financial distress for young adults. To test if increased health insurance coverage leads to improvements in financial well-being, I use a large, nationally representative database of anonymized consumer credit report information from the years 2009-2013. I employ a difference-in-differences research design to examine financial outcomes for young adults that were born in 1982-1983 and 1985-1986, with the latter cohort serving as a treatment group. I find that the mandate reduced debt in third-party collections by 3% and bankruptcies by 1.2 per 1000 people for young adults covered by the mandate. These effects are stronger in counties that experienced higher rates of uninsurance and states that experienced higher rates of unemployment at the time the mandate was passed. The estimates also show that these reductions are transitory, as they diminish after an individual ages out of the mandate at age 26. These results are consistent with other recent research showing that the implications of health care policy extend beyond measures of physical health. The third chapter, using similar data and empirical methodology employed by the second chapter, examines the effect of providing health insurance on consumption and borrowing choices of young adults. Using the ACA's 2010 dependent coverage mandate as an exogenous change in medical expenditure risk for those young adults gaining health insurance coverage, empirical estimates show that individuals affected by the mandate increased their use of credit cards, auto loans, and student loans, while also maintaining higher balances on these loans. Coefficient estimates also show that lenders provided affected individuals with higher credit limits and larger loans. These findings suggest that a reduction in medical expenditure risk due to insurance coverage may allow young adults to expand their consumption and…

► In my dissertation I examine the value of publicly provided goods in a spatial setting, and investigate the scope of government in providing an…
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▼ In my dissertation I examine the value of publicly provided goods in a spatial setting, and investigate the scope of government in providing an excludable public good. The thesis uses GIS software to create original data sets to study urban spatial issues. The main goal of the thesis is to value public goods in a spatial context as it is important to policy makers concerned with development of urban areas. Protected open space is found to be valuable to home owners, and distance to open space is important to the magnitude of the value. Homeowners have a weak valuation for being close to public schooling, and distance has a small impact on the magnitude of the value.
Advisors/Committee Members: Charles deBartolome, Jonathan Hughes.

► This dissertation is composed of three studies. The first chapter examines the substitutability between sex-selective abortions and postnatal gender discrimination. The second chapter explores…
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▼ This dissertation is composed of three studies. The first chapter examines the substitutability between sex-selective abortions and postnatal gender discrimination. The second chapter explores the relationship between parental son preference, level of female autonomy, and gender gaps in child nutrition. The final chapter examines differences in spousal choices and intra-household gender relations across different marriage types prevalent in India. The first chapter tests whether sex-selective abortions have substituted for discrimination against girls after birth. First, I identify the groups where the likelihood of sex-selective abortions being used is the greatest and then check if these same groups have experienced increases in girls' health investments and outcomes. Results indicate that wealthy urban households exhibit the largest sex ratio imbalance. This same group exhibits a relative increase in the duration of breastfeeding for girls. In contrast, the biggest improvements in relative female postneonatal mortality rates are observed in poorer rural households who are less likely to practice sex selection. Overall, the results suggest that sex selection and postnatal discrimination are practiced by different groups. The second chapter examines whether gender gaps in child nutrition are evident in the presence of parental son preference and then tests if this relationship varies with the level of female autonomy. When mothers have a son preference, gender gaps in child nutrition are observed if she is involved in making household decisions. In contrast, no independent association is found between child nutrition outcomes and paternal son preference. The third chapter examines differences in spousal choices and intra-household gender relations across marriage types, which are categorized based on the extent of a woman's say in the choice of her partner. The results indicate that in arranged marriages, women are more likely to marry someone from the same caste and someone at least as educated as her. On the other hand, self-arranged marriages are likely to take place between similarly aged individuals and individuals from different castes. Furthermore, the greatest autonomy in decision making is found among women involved in the choice of their spouse together with their parents rather than among women in self-arranged marriages.
Advisors/Committee Members: Terra McKinnish, Tania Barham, Francisca Antman.

► Chapter one examines the nature of responses to market price changes in one market among other energy commodity markets continues to be uncertain. This…
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▼ Chapter one examines the nature of responses to market price changes in one market among other energy commodity markets continues to be uncertain. This paper looks at these energy commodity markets (oil futures, oil spot, gasoline futures, gasoline spot and gasoline retail) and explores the responses of market prices in all of those markets to an exogenous price shock in any one of the other markets. A four step estimation process is used to examine impacts in market prices from price and/or volatility shocks in another market, and a supply shock from an hurricane is analyzed to trace price impacts on these five markets. Results indicate that oil futures prices and price volatilities provide the most significant impacts in all markets. Chapter two presents a flexible model that allows for the tracking of the private and social costs associated with traffic congestion and road quality deterioration. The structure of the model is similar to the class of models within the existing literature that have been used to examine transportation costs. The focus, however, is to quantify the economic impacts from a variety of different government policies designed to alleviate traffic congestion and road quality deterioration. Despite the widespread recognition of the efficacy associated with the use of congestion tolls, the reality is that congestion toll policies are rarely adopted. Instead government policies are often adopted that seek to decrease traffic congestion through the construction of new roadways. Additionally, given budget constraints, governments often adopt policies that do not provide for road maintenance at levels necessary to prevent the road surface quality from declining. Results indicate that governments can pursue a policy of little road maintenance for 7 to 10 years before the economy is adversely affected. Chapter 3 examines a model of energy prices, possible affects of temporal aggregation associated with series that exhibit conditional heteroskedasticity. A seven equation recursive vector error correction model is used as a vehicle for analyzing and forecasting retail gasoline prices using daily, weekly, and monthly data. Six of the seven series exhibit strong signs of conditional heteroskedaticity. The four main topics addressed are impacts from macroeconomic performance on retail gasoline prices, the impacts of oil and gas price volatilities on retail gasoline prices, the importance of oil futures prices for retail gasoline prices, and the affect of temporal aggregation on the implications and forecasting performance of the model. Evidence suggests that the presence of conditional heteroskedasticity does not inhibit the application of a VECM framework, that macroeconomic performance does impact retail gas prices, price volatilities are a source of variation in retail gas prices, oil futures prices have a significant positive effect on retail gasoline prices, and temporal aggregation can distort underlying information inherent in a low frequency data generating process.
Advisors/Committee Members: Jonathan Hughes, Nicholas Flores, Robert McNown.

► The environmental and energy consequences of globalization have become an important topic of debate. My dissertation examines the interaction between environmental and energy issues…
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▼ The environmental and energy consequences of globalization have become an important topic of debate. My dissertation examines the interaction between environmental and energy issues and international trade. Specifically, I investigate environmental regulations and policy in an open economy. In the first chapter, I analyze how an environmental tax on pollution from consumption affects trade flows and welfare in an open economy. In particular, I argue that the effect of an environmental tax on the direction of trade flows depends on who is directly burdened by the regulation (consumers or producers) regardless of who is the polluter. In the case of pollution generated by consumers, a tax on consumers who are the polluters tends to increase exports and reduce imports of dirty goods. This result is the opposite of the well-known effect arising from taxes on pollution-intensive industries. Stringent environmental regulations on pollution-intensive industries diminishes exports and increases imports of dirty industries. In terms of welfare, I show the importance of targeting the policy instrument to the correct source of pollution. Assuming pollution is caused by the consumption of a good, a production tax has a weak effect on increasing welfare through reducing pollution. Furthermore, welfare can fall if the production tax ratio is too high, leading to reduced national income. The second chapter is motivated by recent trends in the U.S. economy: increasing imports from China, decreasing energy consumption, and increasing output. There are two primary theoretical approaches related to the relationship between energy use in U.S. manufacturing and increasing imports from China: Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) trade theory and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH). These two frameworks generate opposite predictions about the relationship between these trends. H-O theory suggests that with increased Chinese import penetration, U.S. manufacturing should move toward more energy-intensive industries and as a result, energy use in U.S. industries should increase. Alternatively, PHH predicts that energy-intensive industries in U.S. manufacturing would relocate to other countries with more lax energy regulations. As a result, this would lead U.S. manufacturer to use less energy. To understand the determinants of energy use in U.S. manufacturing, I construct a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the U.S. economy using the 2005 input-output table. I find that increasing imports from China causes all manufacturing industries to use more energy. Energy use increases proportional to the output of each industry. However, the magnitude of this effect is very small. In order to help understand the magnitude of the effect, I introduce a (counter-factual) tax on energy use in U.S. manufacturing. Combining these two scenarios, increasing imports from China and an energy tax, produces an outcome consistent with the actual data: decreasing energy consumption and increasing output. Interestingly, total energy use in the U.S. manufacturing…
Advisors/Committee Members: James R. Markusen,, Jonathan E. Hughes, Nicholas Flores, Keith Maskus, Edward Balistreri.

► I investigate under what economic conditions democratization would be adopted in oligarchic societies in the absence of social conflict and political competition. In each…
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▼ I investigate under what economic conditions democratization would be adopted in oligarchic societies in the absence of social conflict and political competition. In each essay, I construct a general equilibrium model of a delegation game and characterize the conditions in terms of economic primitives. I show that democratization occurs when there is a net positive spillover to the elite's payoff. The benchmark delegation game considers the oligarchic regime and the democratic regime. At the status quo, the elite are entrusted with the political power over a tax policy. They decide either to sustain the power under the oligarchic regime or to delegate the power to people so that democratization occurs and the society goes under the democratic regime. The first essay considers an environment with education. Under the oligarchic regime, the elite appropriate people's labor income. The tax decreases people's incentive to receive education and to work. The economy grows poor, and the tax revenue may be limited. Under the democratic regime, people remove the tax distortion. They pursue education and work hard, which increase the elite's capital return. Democratization would be adopted if the elite receive sufficient capital return under the democratic regime, or collect small labor income tax revenue under the oligarchic regime. The second essay considers the presence of home production and non-exclusive public goods. Under the oligarchic regime, home production weakens the elite's appropriation on people's labor income received from market production. Under the democratic regime, people impose a capital gain tax on the elite to finance for non-exclusive public goods. Democratization would be adopted if the elite impose a small labor income tax under the oligarchic regime, or people provide abundant labor supply and impose a reasonable capital gain tax on the elite under the democratic regime. The third essay considers a two-period economy in the absence of commitment. Under the oligarchic regime, the elite impose a savings tax on people after observing their savings behavior. When people save, the elite expropriate their saving. Under the democratic regime, the tax distortion is removed and the efficiency of the economy is improved. Democratization would be adopted if the prosperous economy increases the elite's purchasing power.
Advisors/Committee Members: Martin Boileau, Anna Rubinchik, Ufuk Devrim Demirel, Charles de Bartolome, David Brown.

► Values of agricultural lands in South Dakota have been steadily increasing. Even during the recent economic recession, values of agricultural lands continued to increase.…
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▼ Values of agricultural lands in South Dakota have been steadily increasing. Even during the recent economic recession, values of agricultural lands continued to increase. The main objectives of this project were to obtain insights regarding cause(s) of increase in land-values, and to see whether there was any influence of increasing revenue of corn on land values. In addition, this research also investigated if there was any effect of interest rates on rent-to-value ratio. A major portion of the dataset included in this study was obtained from South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service (SDASS). This dataset includes information regarding per acre land-values and cash-rental rates. The main variables analyzed to estimate market values of agricultural lands were per acre revenue associated to land, corn revenue as a percentage of total revenue, interest rates and population pressure. Key findings from this research include that the main variables that influence cropland values are interest rates, corn revenue percentage measure, rental rates and population density. Among these variables, cropland values respond the most to interest rates and to corn revenue as a percentage of total revenue. However, there are some regional differences based on the fact that cropland values respond differently to these variables. The eastern regions, particularly the East Central, Central, North East and regions have independent variables that are statistically significant and influence cropland values the most. The North Central, North West, South Central and South West regions do not seem to have particularly different trend patterns compared to the Central Region. Rent-to-value ratio was influenced by interest rates. As interest rates increase, values of cropland decrease. As a result, rent-to-value ratio would rise. From a regional perspective, rent-to-value ratios increase faster in the North Central, North East and North West regions compared to the Central Region. This research is expected to furnish useful information on cash value and rental rate trends of farmlands in South Dakota, which would be insightful and interesting to scholars as well as stakeholders who are interested in land-value issues. Results from this research can also be useful to decision-makers, farm operators, and other stakeholders who are involved in land-management and agricultural production in the Northern Great Plains.
Advisors/Committee Members: Larry Janssen.

► The purpose of this research is to compare and analyze several different yield forecasting methods. The study analyzes corn yields in Ohio and South…
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▼ The purpose of this research is to compare and analyze several different yield forecasting methods. The study analyzes corn yields in Ohio and South Dakota for the years 1986 through 2012. A base model, with a trend and state dummy variable is developed. Two competing models, one with objective variables and one with subjective variables, are then developed as additions to the base model. The competing objective model is developed by adding accumulated growing degree days (GDD) and accumulated rainfall variables. The competing subjective model is developed by adding a USDA crop conditions index (CCI) variable. The models are estimated weekly between weeks 24 and 36 of the calendar year. The three models are compared using several different criteria. Examinations of adjusted R2 values, F-test values, and root Mean Squared Error (MSE) values are conducted, as well as statistical tests of the competing model forecast errors. The results show that the competing subjective (CCI) model performs the best at forecasting corn yield during the growing season. It outperforms the base and objective models for the entire study period. With a minimum MSE of 8 bushels per acre, it is over 7 bushels per acre more accurate at forecasting yield than its competitors.
Advisors/Committee Members: Matthew Diersen.

▼ My thesis offers one example of a cost associated with hypocrisy, environmental loss. Hypocrisy is defined as “the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behavior” (Collins Dictionary, 2003). In order to measure hypocrisy two types of data are needed: (1) a measure of a person’s “professed standards” and (2) a measure of “actual behavior.” A study of the various ways in which hypocrisy affects an individual’s entire life is obviously beyond the scope of any single study. Therefore, my thesis demonstrates how hypocrisy, or hypocritical bias, can be measured with a single professed standard and actual behavior, namely environmental concern and use of non-reusable coffee/ tea cups (i.e., cardboard and plastic cups). A coffee or tea drinker who is very concerned for the environment should, if he eschews hypocritical bias, avoid the use of non-reusable cups when he purchases coffee/tea at a coffee shop. Individuals are given a hypocrisy score, calculated as a weighted average of non-reusable cups per number of trips to coffee shop per week and a respondent’s general concern for the environment (0=”unconcerned”, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1 = “very concerned”). A higher score (i.e., greater hypocrisy) is given to individuals who use relatively more non-renewable cups and yet profess to have a relatively higher concern for the environment. Controlling for need for convenience, laziness, and ignorance, in the econometric analysis we are able to isolate the marginal effect of hypocrisy on environmental cost of using non-reusable cups.
Advisors/Committee Members: Arthur Caplan.